Time to put it behind

I have finally gathered the courage to share the trailer (or trailers). The thought that people will see it on a (very) big screen on the Degree Show is very off putting, if I may say so myself. I know that it is a common feeling to not being pleased with one's own work, but it really bugs me how I get to the end of the year feeling so tired, and then look at the final product and it looks as though I've been doing nothing the whole time. I feel disappointed at myself, but unfortunately there is nothing I can do at this point but live with it.

Nevertheless, I did not make this trailer to use as a portfolio piece. The trailer was the solution I thought of to be able to submit a finished product in the end of the year, and there were a lot of good things that came with the process. I learned a lot about myself and my abilities. I have become quite interested in background painting, something I avoided this whole time before I started this course; and my liking for the director's work was heightened. Hopefully I will be able to translate all of this onto the actual film once I resume working on it. Many things will change, including the flashback sequences, which will definitely look more finished and less lazy... sigh.

This is the first edit, which I submitted two weeks ago or so. Flashbacks take over half of the trailer, pretty much, and come all at once almost. I really disliked that, plus the fact that only one 'present' shot interrupts them for a couple of seconds. The shots are all in chronological order, which doesn't really work, something I only noticed once I had the final product all put together. That's not good. Considering it wasn't my intentions to make the story of the film clear, with this trailer, the way the shots are set up make it look like I was attempting the opposite.

For the second edit I decided to randomize the chronological order as well as mix up the 'present' shots with the flashback shots. I ended up not animating the troll coming out of the house, because, for one, I did try to do it (many many times), but then thought that the effort was pointless considering that it would have not made the trailer any better. As I decided to change the order of the shots, that shot lost its significance. This edit is more like a teaser trailer, showing characters and emotions over story.

On another note, these are the line tests of the two shots I animated for Jamie and that I will be colouring over the weekend. I found animating on paper rather fun, actually, and probably easier and more appealing than doing so on the computer with the graphics tablet. Even though I'm well used to the tablet, it definitely doesn't conquer the precision one can get with the pencil, and animating straight ahead as I do, seems to come out more naturally. Still, there's some timing issues, specifically in the fist shot I show here; but as Jamie put it, 'there's no time to think, only time to animate!', which, with the very LAST deadline knocking on the door, is very true.

In this shot, the dead cat fish the two main characters had been fighting over through the film, falls into the river and lands on the head of a far greater and lively cat fish, waking him up (Jamie animated the little one after I animated this, so you'll have to use your imagination).

And in this shot, the giant cat fish rises like a shark and with a snappy bite, tears the boat the characters are on in half (again, use your imagination for the rest of the shot!)